(1966) In the 1966 spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the character played by Eli Wallach pretends that he can’t urinate while the man holding him captive is watching. (They are handcuffed together.) When the captor averts his eyes, the Wallach character slugs him.

(1968) In the 1968 Gore Vidal novel Myra Breckinridge, Rusty has difficulty giving a urine sample, saying he is ‘pee-shy’.

(c. 1981) In the 1980’s television series Hill Street Blues, the shyness of the character Officer Joe Coffee (played by Ed Marinaro) is in part developed by his admission that he can’t pee in public.

(1988) In “The Mezzanine” by Nicholson Baker, the character experiences paruresis and explains that vizualising himself peeing on his neighbour’s shoes helps a lot in these situations.

(c. 1993) In the television series Frasier, Dr. Niles Crane admits to having “shy kidneys”.

(c. 1993) In The Simpsons episode Homer Goes to College Benjamin admits “Someone knocked on the door and I couldn’t go!” after Lisa asks why he “needs to go to the bathroom” again, even though they “just stopped five minutes ago”.

(1994) In an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head, the title characters ask David Van Driessen how to urinate. They are sent to see Principal McVicker, who tries to explain, but stutters and cannot finish the explanation. The boys are then forced into the bathroom with Coach Buzzcut, who commands them to “unzip your pants, pull out your penises, and leak!” When the dimwiitted duo cannot expel the urine, they are left standing at the urinal. The boys are sent to a urologist, and when soothing music is played, they begin to wet their pants.

(1996) In the movie Big Bully, one of the children states that he has a shy bladder and can’t go when “everyone is standing around him like its a barnyard trough.”

(1997) In the 1997 novel “Empire State” by Colin Bateman, the character Nathan Jones is having problems urinating at a Woody Allen gig because of another man in the room, who Nathan realises is also not urinating. It turns out to be Woody himself, also (fictionally) a ‘drier’, having the same problem.

(c. 1997) In an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the character Jonathan cannot urinate because another character is talking in the other room. As a result, Jonathan asks the person in the other room to stop talking.

(c. 1998) In an episode of Suddenly Susan, Susan Keane (portrayed by Brooke Shields) alleges that Jack Richmond (portrayed by Judd Nelson) cannot use a urinal (with other people present) because he gets stagefright. Richmond counters that he often wears expensive suits and he is just trying to avoid backsplash.

(1999) In the 1999 film Trick, Christian Campbell‘s character Gabriel, is unable to urinate at a restroom urinal in the presence of a drag queen (played by Miss Coco Peru). This prompts her to mention that he is “pee-shy” and turns away so that he can proceed to urinate.

(1999) In the 1999 film Fight Club, the character Tyler Durden states he cannot urinate with someone watching as he attempts to contaminate some soup.

(c. 2000) In episode 306 of Coupling, Jeff admits that he has problems ‘declenching’ and is wary of ‘secret listeners’.

(c. 2001) In the television series Scrubs, the character of Elliot cannot use the bathroom while someone is talking to her.

(2003) In Series 1 Episode 3 of Peep Show, Mark is at the urinal when Jeff joins him and chats. Mark thinks “I’ll never be able to go now” and thinks of waterfalls, before pretending to be finished, washing and leaving.